Republic of Disconnected Netas

It is not unusual for politicians in national capitals, whether in Delhi or in Washington D.C., to be lulled into intoxication by the aura of immense power. Delhi's politicians have now confirmed that their state of intoxication has acquired an additional, more damaging, dimension-a complete disconnect from reality. Three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was always different, her ears open, her feet on the ground, until she made a blase statement saying that Rs 600 per month was more than enough for a family of five to feed itself in the very expensive national capital. Even a politician as savvy as Dikshit had finally fallen victim to the dreaded Delhi-centric political malaise of disconnect.

Politicians will, of course, deny any malaise. A few days after Dikshit's faux pas, parliamentarians across political lines rose to forcefully condemn the gruesome gang rape of a 23-year-old student in Delhi. It was an emphatic display of empathy and solidarity with the ordinary citizen. Unfortunately, even in their collective outrage, New Delhi's parliamentarians displayed an extraordinary disconnect. Not one MP, many of who are on a Central list of around 500 VIPs entitled to Delhi Police security, offered to give up his or her security cover so that the police could instead be deployed to protect thousands of vulnerable women. By a 2010 estimate, about 5,000 Delhi Police personnel, or 10 per cent of the police force, were deployed to protect just 300 Central VIPs. The rest of Delhi's 16 million residents have to make do with 50,000 policemen. What kind of country deploys 17 policemen for one VIP and a single policeman for 320 citizens?

Disconnect is a far more serious problem for politicians than even corruption-corrupt politicians still win elections, disconnected ones never do. It is a problem that disproportionately afflicts the two national parties, Congress and BJP, both in their personnel and messages. The Congress first family, its undisputed leadership, believes its surname is sufficient connect with the people of India, never mind the fact that the last genuinely popular Gandhi, Indira, died before the present majority of Indians were born. Rahul may parachute in and out of election campaigns, but his carefully choreographed appearances, all staged behind formidable security barriers, are simply not working. His party's chief message -freebies to the poor-is equally out of sync with the new aspirational India, which wants much more than dole. It wants quality jobs the Congress is not delivering, not even promising.

BJP is no different. Its central leadership, all of which claims to be prime minister material, would struggle to win a single state election, even in a collective effort. The party's top guns don't seem to realise that just being a Delhi-based leader is insufficient qualification for the country's top job. BJP's message is as incoherent as its central leadership-the supposedly right-wing party's recent economic pronouncements would make the Left proud.

It would, therefore, be hardly surprising if in 2014, for the first time in history, the disconnected Congress and BJP together fail to add up to the half-way mark in Parliament. Politics is all about connect and the smaller, nimbler regional parties are in pole position. BJP may do better if one of its connected regional satraps assumes central command. For Congress, the future is bleak.